Wix is fine if you have the time and the patience to build and maintain the site yourself. A web designer is worth the money if you would rather that time went into the business. Wix is cheaper on the subscription line. A designer is usually cheaper once you count your hours honestly.
That is the comparison most adverts skip. Here is the longer version, without pretending either side is a villain.
What does building it on Wix actually involve?
Wix is a website builder. You pay a fee, pick a template, and drag things around. For a patient person with a spare weekend, it can produce a usable site. You can start today and nobody else touches it.
The catch is that all of the work is yours. Fonts, spacing, mobile layout, a form that actually emails you. Together it eats evenings. After launch you are still the webmaster. Two hours a month is a conservative average. Many Sussex trades charge more on the tools than they are “saving” in the editor.
Wix UK Classic plans, annual billing as of 2026, sit around Light £9, Core £16, Business £25 and Business Elite £119 a month. Monthly billing is higher. Check Wix before you buy. Domain renewal, email and apps sit on top. How much Wix really costs walks through that stack.
Ruby’s Bakery in Burgess Hill was stuck on a slow Wix site that fought them every time the range changed. Oilfire Heating in Uckfield had wasted hours in Wix when he needed to be on boilers. Sindall Building Contractors in Haywards Heath had a single sluggish Wix page that could not carry the work. The monthly fee was never the first complaint. The time and the result were.
What does a web designer actually do?
A designer (or a small studio) does the deciding as well as the clicking. You describe the business, hand over photos and details, and get back a finished site. A good one also makes the choices you would not know to make: what sits above the fold, how obvious the phone number is, how the page is structured so a person and Google can both read it.
That is not “logging into Wix for you”. Some designers do exactly that, a Wix build you still cannot leave. Ask what the site is made of, who hosts it, and what happens if you stop paying. A managed custom site is a different product: lean pages, your domain, a person to call.
You pay more than a Wix Core subscription. You rely on someone else for changes. Ask about turnaround, how many updates sit in the plan, and who owns the domain. At Page Forge a one-page site is £99 to set up and £29 a month, or £299 a year, live in about five working days. The detail is on pricing. “Cheap” and “expensive” swap places once your hours have a number.
How should I compare the cost without fooling myself?
Do not compare Wix’s monthly fee to a designer’s one-off build price. That is two different products.
Wix side: plan, domain after year one, email, apps, your build time and your change time. Ten to thirty hours to launch is common. Value those hours at what you charge. The editor does not invoice you. The week still went.
Designer side: a project fee, or setup plus a monthly that includes hosting. An agency build can run into thousands, which is overkill for most local firms. A managed one-pager sits in a different band.
Three-year sketch, annual Wix Core at about £16 a month: £576 in plan fees, plus extras, plus labour. A Page Forge one-pager at £99 and £29 a month is £99 + £1,044, or £299 a year (£897 over three years, plus setup). The labour line is the one people skip, and it is usually the large one. If your budget is truly zero, Wix Light and your evenings is the honest answer. If the site is how customers decide to call, DIY is often a false economy.
Who owns the site, and who makes the changes?
On Wix, you own the account. The site lives in their system. If you stop paying, it goes away or grows ads. Export is not a clean “take my website with me”. You take words and images. Someone rebuilds.
With a designer, keep the domain in your name and ask what you get if you leave. A good managed setup means you send a change and it happens. Some owners want the login. Wix is for them. Others want the site to stay correct. They are the designer customers. If you are already on Wix and it has become a chore, moving is a rebuild with redirects. We cover that on the Wix alternative page.
When is Wix genuinely the right call?
I am not going to pretend it never is. It fits if you enjoy this and have regular time, if the budget is truly zero, or if the site is a placeholder. If those are true, buy the plan you will actually live on (usually Core, not Light), compress your images, skip the chat widget, and write titles that name the town. Wix will not stop you ranking. Neglect will.
When does paying a designer save money?
When your time is worth more than the saving, when you want it done properly the first time, and when you do not want to patch it forever.
Pay someone when customers judge you on the site before they ring, when you have already spent weeks in Wix and it is still not finished, when you need more pages than the template will carry (Sindall), when the range must stay current without living in the editor (Ruby’s), or when you would rather invoice a job than pad a section (Oilfire).
A designer is not automatically better at SEO or speed. You are buying judgement and time. Ask to see local work, how they handle a move off Wix, and what the monthly includes.
Frequently asked questions
Is Wix bad if I hire a designer who uses Wix?
It can be a reasonable short-term site. You still have Wix’s weight, Wix’s fees, and a harder exit. Ask why they are building in Wix. Sometimes the answer is “it is what I know”. Sometimes it is “you wanted to edit it”. Both are fine if you chose them on purpose.
Can I move my Wix site to a designer later?
Yes. Your words and photos come with you. A designer rebuilds rather than importing the old clutter. Redirects keep old addresses alive. We do this regularly for Sussex businesses leaving Wix. You do not need to “finish” the Wix site first.
How long does a designer take compared with doing it myself?
A managed one-pager with us is typically live in about five working days once we have your details. Building it yourself to the same standard takes most people weeks of evenings, and many never quite finish. Larger sites take longer on both sides. The difference is whose evenings they are.
Is Wix cheaper than a web designer?
The subscription is cheaper than most design fees. The total, including your time, often is not. Compare three years, not the first month. Include email and apps. Include the hours. Then decide.
Will a designer make me rank higher than Wix?
Not by magic. Rankings come from content, the Business Profile, reviews and a usable page. A designer should build those in. A Wix owner can do the same work. The usual gap is that the DIY site never quite gets the structure and speed done.
What if I want to edit the site myself?
Then a builder matches that wish. A managed site is edited by sending changes. Six content updates a year sit in our plans. If you need weekly tinkering, stay in a builder.
If you would rather spend evenings on the business, that is the job. See pricing or the Wix alternative. I will tell you if Wix is still the right tool.